Connecticut western news., 1887-04-20
FARMERS TO SUFFER.
THE INTERSTATE COMMERCE
 LAW AND CHANGERS.
They Must Bear the Burden of the
 Higher Freight Rates.

A curious state of things exist in the North law promised to make the farmer richer. In reality it will force him to the wall. The low ering of local and raising of through rates will not benefit him. The farmer of the North west, as a rule does not stand on his own bot tom. He is in debt, and generally to the buyers of his crops. Bis creditors find that grain freights have been increased without proportionato rise in the price of flour. The great millers do not propose to pay the differ ence. The farmer must pay it. The differ ence is serious matter. Before the law went into effect the flour rate between India napolis and Chicago was 7Ha cents. Now on all the roads except the Chicago Burlington and Northern it is IS cents. Six railroads connect Minneapolis with Chicago. Five of them do a local as well as a through busi- ness. In order to make money out of the local traffic, and at the same time raise the through rate proportionately, they have made the lat ter is cents. The Chicago, Burlington and Northern has no local business, and has made the Chicago rate 10 cents. The mlllers can neither afford to pay Is cents without squeez, ing the farmers to death, nor, under normal conditions, can the Chicago, Burlington and Northern carry all the through freight. At present 1t can take the business, but there IS an immense amount of 'smilling in transit"
 Heretofore tremendous freight contracts have been made with the various roads, and all of them contained the "millng ln transit clause. This clause provided that grain billed west of Minneapolis to Chicago should be mill ed at Minneapolis and shipped thence as flour. point may have been 20 cents. The local rate from the original point of shipment would in that case be 12H cents, leaving the rate from Minneapolis to Chicago 7143 cents. These contracts were cash and have all been paid for so the interstate commerce law does not interfere with them. The railroads have been paid for carrying large amount of freight to Chicago, which, for various causes, has not yet been offered. Until the "milllng ln transit has been disposed of the millers will not feel the new tariff, but when the old contracts have been cleaned up there will have to be new deal or some one must suffer. The railroads will object to suffering. So will the mlllers, and so will the farmers, but the latter Will De in the condition of the man who has no friends and may expect to hear the cry, "Hlt him again."
 Any shipper who wants to buy can get the benefit of these old contracts, for they are in the market They are transferable and call for so many cars. Millers who have disposed of their flour in other directions sell them for what they will bring, and lose nothing on the original transaction. When these are no more there will be music in the Northwest. Duluth will be the gciner and Chicago the sufferer. The latter tO QOlQ US OWL, uuleSS luo loS aHN' short haul clause of the new law be abrogated, must condense it's grain business-in other words, ship hogs and cattle instead of grain, for every hog represents seven bushels of corn and every bullock seventy, and the animals dressed take up much less room in freight car than the grain they represent.
 When business opens with rush and the market is clear of milling in transit" con- tracts nobody will be very much surprised to find that the other roads have obtained control of the Chicago Burlington and Northern. In any case the law is not likely to benefit the farmer Excepting the railroads it has now few friends in the Northwest. The benefits to be derived from it are not considered equal to the injury it will infict.